It's graduation season, which means it's an acceptable time to give the gift of a simple wooden spoon.

It’s that time of year when all across the country young adults dress up in caps and rented gowns to begin the next stage of this wonderful thing we call life. Some may be moving back in with their parents, to which we say, enjoy the boundless land of opportunity that is their refrigerator and pantry because you don’t know what you’ve got 'til it’s gone. But to those that aren’t, we suggest to gently forward this list along to your Aunt Susan. There are only a handful of things you really need to outfit your kitchen. Fancy pie dishes and cherry pitters are for when you get married; baking sheets and mixing bowls are for when you have no more excuses to eat microwaved quesadillas. Take note:

These mixing bowls from Williams-Sonoma are the Russian nesting dolls of kitchen equipment—each slightly smaller than the last, each cradled inside another, all the way from about 10 inches to 2 inches (making for very easy storage). The big ones are easy: You can toss salads and pastas and marinate meat in them. And while they’re not the most beautiful serving bowls in the world, they’ll certainly work as that, too. But what about the smaller ones, you might ask? Mise, mise, and mise some more. Or whisk up a salad dressing. Or use one as a saltcellar. Or just look at them and smile because small things are really cute, like your first apartment, which is really just a closet you're subletting in your friend Jenny's studio.

You will never love anything as much as you will love your cast iron, except for maybe your mom or your cat. You could cook with just this one pan for the rest of your life and never even miss any other pan (if you treat it right). You can even make dessert in a cast iron!! It can go on the stove and in the oven. Plus its dark, moody look is perfect for making your food a star on Instagram, which is what having your first real kitchen is all about.

Here is a set of six-dollar Ikea knives (chefs, bread, and paring) that, according to assistant production manager Alex Delany, are surprisingly good. “I’ve had mine for almost two years,” he said. Kitchen manager Brad Leone would probably have Delany’s head for suggesting these, but did we mention they’re six dollars??? Sorry, Brad. (Or sorry, Delany, depending on how you look at it.)

You can bake cookies on a cookie sheet, sure. But you can also roast just about anything in your oven—a whole chicken, any vegetable. They’re easy to clean, last forever, and you can store them in your oven. Much better than putting books and clothes in there, because we know that’s what you were thinking of doing before you got the baking sheets.

A cutting board also serves multiple purposes (are you sensing a theme here?). The primary one is cutting things, duh, but the other is a cheese and charcuterie board, which you will definitely need when you are throwing all sorts of dignified dinner parties as a Real Adult. Another genius gift idea? Get a cutting board and a cute cheese knife. There are a ton out there in a serious range of prices, but no matter what, make sure you get a wooden one. Not only does it look better, but it’s easier on the blades of your knives (especially those six-dollar Ikea ones).

The Dutch Oven is another serious kitchen workhorse. It comes in a range of prices, depending what make and model you get, though the Staub here is definitely on the steeper end of this list, also known as a good present from grandma. You can make braises, soups, stews, and risottos in this guy. You can fry things. You can even bake bread. Take care of it and it’ll accompany you from kitchen to kitchen.